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ISLAMABAD (AFP) - The UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) is desperately short of funds to carry out its voluntary repatriation program for Afghan refugees, a UN official said here Wednesday. UNHCR spokesperson Yusuf Hassan said some aid programs for refugees repatriated from Iran and Pakistan already underway would be cut back and others would be cancelled if funds did not arrive soon. "We need $7 million for the repatriations and we have received two million," said Hassan, who regretted the lack of interest from donors. The UNHCR has repatriated 128,443 Afghans: 53,782 have left Pakistan since the start of the year under an accord with Afghanistan's ruling Islamic Taliban. A further 74,661 have returned from Iran since last April 8th under a similar agreement. Last year, more than 92,000 refugees voluntarily returned from Pakistan to Afghanistan, exclusively to areas controlled by the Taliban, under the terms of the accord. "We are already obliged to halve from $40 to $20 the financial assistance which we give to each of those repatriated from Iran," Hassan said, adding that if funds did not arrive the UNHCR "may be forced to suspend the program." The spokesperson also stressed that the program supervising resettlement of refugees and that concerning schooling had been reduced. The UNHCR had hoped to help build houses for 6,000 refugee families who were particularly vulnerable, such as widows, but has only been able to help about 3,000 and the program is just about dead, Hassan said. According to UNHCR statistics, there are 1.2 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan, mainly in Baluchistan and Northwest Frontier province, which border Afghanistan, and a further 1.4 million refugees are in Iran. Following the accords with the Taliban, 200,000 Afghans have been repatriated this year from Pakistan and Iran to areas under control of Islamists. UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata leaves for a tour of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran in mid-September. |
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